Car Seat Confusion...

[Potbelijo]

So I've finally made a start on buying stuffs for Pixie coming along. But I'll a little bit stuck with this car seat business.

We don't have a car of our own, we usually walk or use public transport. We occasionally get a lift from various family members or use a taxi, this tends to be only once every other month. Obviously I won't bet getting the bus home from the hospital, it will more likely be a taxi so we are going to need a car seat.

I've tried looking around for car seats and I've noticed that some say they fit with a seat belt. The problem is all seem to refer to fitting guidelines for car models and my MiL tells me the police can check them to make sure they are fitted properly.

It's got me in a bit of a tizz. I want Pixie to be safe but the information I've had so far means we'll never be able to get in a car. Can anyone offer some advice please?

 

[xmcnickyx]

You'll most likely get some info with the car seat on where you can put it in particular models of car. I got a big booklet of car makes and models with a list of where the seat can be placed in the car safely (eg if you can turn the airbags off int he front, you can put the car seat there, if not it needs to go in the back etc) but the back seat on either the right or left is usually the best place to put it!

If you get one which can be fitted with a seat belt, it'll probably be easy enough to do but maybe go to mothercare or somewhere like that and get them to show you the seats and how they're fitted. I don't know about the police thing though!

 

[Potbelijo]

Thanks honey. I don't relish the idea of carrying a huge booklet around with me everytime I might need a taxi

I'll have to go back to a shop I think. The guys in Mothercare in Sunderland were either too busy or not experts on the car seats. They seemed to be just guessing and a little confused as to why I'd want a car seat when I don't have a car

 

[aramintalovegrove]

I have used our car seat in a few cars and the problem seems to be the length of the seatbelt some cars i can get the car seat in easily some its quite a tight fit. If you will only be using it occasionally I cant reccommend narnia car seats enough they are cheap and very good quality, my sister has one and its fab, slimmer than my car seat but roomy for LO
Anyway a £20 they are great if your only going to be using about 10 times
http://www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 0001_14568

 

[kalia]

The police will expect you to have a car seat but apparently 70% of child car seats are fitted incorrectly so I don't think they are going round checking.

We don't have a car but often go on trips with other mummies and we haen't found a car our seat doesn't fit in (it's been in over a dozen various kinds). It is this one: http://www.mothercare.com/RECARO-Young- ... 1&mcb=core

However, if you genuinely will only be using it once every other month you would only use it 5 or 6 times so it would work out as very expensive for the use you would get out of it. Do you know anyone with a baby? Could you borrow theirs to get home?

There are car seats that do from birth to 4 years. We are about to buy this one: http://www.mothercare.com/Britax-First- ... 1&mcb=core If you go to the britax website you can check which cars it fits in so you could put in the models of the family cars you may go in. At least you might use this one 20 or 30 times so for the same price you would get far better value.

 

[Potbelijo]

Thanks girlies. I'm going to go for the £20 as money is tight. To be honest it's something I'm going to worry about if it's not fitted properly and I'm more likely to avoid asking for lifts and taxis and just use the bus even more. The pushchair we've got is has loads of storage space so. The £20 one wil get us home from the hospital on Pixie day, anything else is a bonus.

Fankoos!!! xxx

 

[aramintalovegrove]

Glad we could help

 

[MrsBrightside]

Thanks honey. I don't relish the idea of carrying a huge booklet around with me everytime I might need a taxi

I'll have to go back to a shop I think. The guys in Mothercare in Sunderland were either too busy or not experts on the car seats. They seemed to be just guessing and a little confused as to why I'd want a car seat when I don't have a car

Hye just gate crashing ya thread... I found the staff at the Sunderland branch to know very little... team valley are lovely tho for future reference.

 

[Potbelijo]

Next time I need anything I'm going to pop up to Kingston Park. It's a shame that, about Sunderland. I just put it down to it being busy and maybe they were Christmas staff.

Anyhoo I got the cheapy one for now. If we use it alot we'll get the one that fits on the pushchair, but that's nearly £100 with bits to fit it.

Wheeeeeee it's all getting exciting now

 

[hennaly]

what a shame you arnt closer to me, i have 3 spare ones, i know they would be second hand but have never been in an accident in fact not really used much you could have had one of those

 

[Potbelijo]

Aw thanks for the thought though Hennaly At least we got a bargain

 

[MrsBrightside]

I took one to the tip that you could of had. it was my best mates... never been in a crash or anything I only got rid of it cause I got one with my pram. Tried to freecyle it and no1 wanted it so threw it out.

ive never been in the kingston park one! I didnt even know there was one there. Guess where I will be dragging OH at some point soon, the team valley one seemed to have a good sale on!

 

[angelcake89]

I know for safety sake this doesn't help but up to 3 years old a child can travel unrestrained in a taxi.

In a licensed taxi or licensed hire car, if a child restraint is not available then the child may travel unrestrained in the rear. This is the only exception for children under 3, and has been introduced for practical rather than safety reasons. You should always think about ways to make sure that a child seat is available.

http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/law/index.htm

If you want I can double check with my dad (policeman) and see if I can't find a better link/literature.

 

[Potbelijo]

You know I did consider just using the carrycot from the pushchair but dismissed it, as you say for safety's sake it's probably not a good idea.

MrsB not sure where on Kingston Park it is, i've never been up there before. I'll let you know what it's like if I drag the OH up next week

 

[angelcake89]

You know I did consider just using the carrycot from the pushchair but dismissed it, as you say for safety's sake it's probably not a good idea.

MrsB not sure where on Kingston Park it is, i've never been up there before. I'll let you know what it's like if I drag the OH up next week

I'll ask my dad about it if you want, because where we live there are a lot of young families and he was a community officer that headed all the PSCO people and often sorted people who were a bit stuck out, I'll see if he has any advice

*edit*

If you can get to a halfords they might be able to help as well.

 

[Potbelijo]

If you don't mind please. We have the car seat now, but it will be nice to know if we ever get caught without it. Thank you.

 

[hennaly]

i know you have a car seat now but i know my hospital wont allow you out unless baby is in a car seat however you are getting home

 

[MrsBrightside]

You know I did consider just using the carrycot from the pushchair but dismissed it, as you say for safety's sake it's probably not a good idea.

MrsB not sure where on Kingston Park it is, i've never been up there before. I'll let you know what it's like if I drag the OH up next week

ooo yeah if you go let me know where it is and wot its like... i cant picture it that's all... but i aint been for ages so that's prob why!! i like team valley cause they have mama and papas two shops down